What Killed The Tetra Pak Heiress, Eva Rausing?

Eve Rausing literally had everything others can only wish and strive for their entire lives. The daughter of a rich American Pepsi-Cola executive who multiplied her fortune a thousand times, with her marriage to Hans Kristian Rausing, joint heir to the £4.5 billion Tetra Pak fortune.

Eve Rausing literally had everything others can only wish and strive for their entire lives. The daughter of a rich American Pepsi-Cola executive who multiplied her fortune a thousand times, with her marriage to Hans Kristian Rausing, joint heir to the £4.5 billion Tetra Pak fortune.

But something she failed to realize was that the multiplication procedure applied to her wealth and affluence does not necessarily conform to the yardsticks defining the equation of life. As they don’t teach you in math lesson in smart public schools, Predisposition Towards Drugs + Limitless Cash = Big Trouble, the equation that ultimately led to Eva’s death and the subsequent arrest of Hans. The entire incident of her suicide once again manifests that privilege cannot protect the heirs to great fortunes from their addictions and often seems to conspire to exacerbate it.

Image From: yoopya.com

However, there is yet another element of the equation: too much playtime. It’s the drugs that actually shut down the body, but it’s the dreariness of one empty day after another, with nothing to do, because of an already overflowing bank account, all of which buttresses the need for drugs. Both these individuals are among people who are unable to match the achievements of their ancestors-Hans K. Rausing’s father and grandfather, for example, made billions from building up Tetra Pak, the Swedish packaging company that saw off the milk bottle.

Much similar is the story of Eva Rausing as her case very neatly sums up the problem. If you do not have to work, the money and time are there to buy drugs. When four years ago Eva was caught with crack at the US Embassy in London, she was let off with a caution; any other person in her place would have been slammed in jail. Court fines are nothing to the billionaire addict. But all that insulation turns out to be illusory in the end.

As in the case of Eva Rausing, where drugs provided an imaginary security blanket and the money is the trap that seems like a means of escape. In the end for people who think that money and affluence can add happiness or satisfaction to their life, I think they have numerous examples including that of Eva Rausing to think again.